Adam Eaton Suffers Torn ACL, Meniscus

SUNDAY: Rizzo confirmed Eaton’s ACL tear on Sunday, adding that he also suffered a torn meniscus and a high ankle sprain. Eaton will face a six- to nine-month recovery period after he undergoes surgery, which the Nats haven’t scheduled yet (Twitterlinksvia Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post). For at least the time being, Rizzo expects to replace Eaton from within, noting that center field is one of the organization’s deepest positions.

SATURDAY: Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton suffered a torn ACL in his left knee on Friday and will miss the rest of the season, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). The injury occurred when Eaton beat out an infield single in the ninth inning of a 7-5 loss to the Mets. Eaton stepped on first base awkwardly and was then unable to put any weight on his left leg, forcing him to exit the game (video via MLB.com).

Entering Saturday, Eaton had been among the red-hot Nationals’ best players in his first month as a member of the club. The top-of-the-order hitter slashed an impressive .297/.393/.462 with two home runs and three steals across 107 plate appearances. In the process, the 28-year-old may have quelled some doubts about the Nationals’ decision to trade a significant haul to the White Sox for him over the winter.

Washington gave up three well-regarded pitching prospects, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning, for Eaton, leading to widespread criticism of Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. However, Eaton had been a terrific offensive player in Chicago over the previous three years, and he drew great marks for his defense in both the 2014 and ’16 campaigns. Further, Eaton carries an appealing contract, one that could max out at an eminently reasonable $38.4MM through the 2021 season.

It’s fair to say Rizzo’s plan for Eaton was to serve as a key cog for a potential championship contender as early as this season, and at 16-8, first-place Washington has looked the part thus far. But the loss of Eaton is undoubtedly a major blow to their roster, and it’s now unclear who will man center field going forward. For now, it’s Michael Taylor, though he has never resembled a big league regular over 814 career PAs. Both the Nationals’ best player, right fielder Bryce Harper, and shortstop Trea Turner have experience in center, but moving either from his current spot would lead to more questions. Other 40-man options to help fill Eaton’s void include Brian Goodwin and Rafael Bautista, the latter of whom the Nats promoted when they placed Eaton on the disabled list early Saturday. The club also has an elite center field prospect in Victor Robles, but he’s only 19 and has never played above the High-A level.

In the event Washington is unsatisfied with its own center fielders, it could go outside the organization for help. Pickings in free agency are slim, though, with the potentially retiredAngel Pagan representing the best of a deeply flawed class of unsigned players. Notably, the Nationals aggressively pursued Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen via trade prior to landing Eaton, and the five-time All-Star could hit the block again this year if the Bucs don’t contend. However, the Nationals found the Pirates’ asking price for McCutchen to be prohibitive in the offseason. If the Nationals don’t look again to McCutchen, Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain could be a possibility, as the scuffling Royals are on track to sell off veterans this summer. The Nats already have interest in the Royals’ closer, Kelvin Herrera, and could perhaps attempt to reel in him and Cain in a package. That’s merely speculation, of course, and having already surrendered a prospect bounty for Eaton a few months ago, Rizzo might be reluctant to part with more high-end youngsters for another outfielder.

Eaton while good is. It great. Nats gotten eaten up alive for that trade and I got one am never big on a huge prospect trade for one player coming back because of the injury risk. Now u have to hope he comes back and isn’t hampered long term with this injury. That his fielding range isn’t hurt and that his base running isn’t hurt. Otherwise this has the potential to be a top ten ever worst trade in MLB history. 1 out of 3 of the prospects have to amount to a second starter status and this trade to me is a horrendous bust.

Giolito, the “centerpiece” of the deal coming back. has been horrid. It doesn’t even matter how the other two pan out. They were not super valuable at the time of the trade. Washington knew how valuable pitching is, and they still did that for Eaton. There’s a reason to it.

People are gonna realize that Giolito simply isn’t that good, regardless of his ranking. Lopez has electric stuff, but probably ends up in the bullpen. Still valuable, but also replaceable.

I like Dunning, but still so far away.

The cost for Eaton wasn’t only for the quality of player they were receiving. They were also getting an extremely good contract with him, hence the cost. A guy like Eaton with one year left? Much cheaper. With several cheap years? $$$ return.

Mets offense is completely dependent on Cespedes. The depth of NYM is overstated considering much of it is missing time (Matz, Lugo) or not fully back from TJ surgery (Wheeler). And Matz makes Strasburg look like Cal Ripken.

That is such an absurd statement I do not know where to begin.
Giolitto was NEVER expected to make the Sox rotation out of the gate. Nor was Lopez (who looked great in the Spring) or Dunning (who is tearing up A ball as we speak). Giolitto could very well see the Sox rotation if they start selling off other pitchers. Also, right now the Sox are in first and looking like a solid team, so why force him up here now (That was the Nats mistake in the first place)

They aren’t wrong. He’s been great at right and kind of mediocre in center going back to his time with the sox. His great speed gives him incredible range in right that can more than make up for his routes and jumps. In centerfield that speed is basically a prerequisite to play the position at all

Set their sights on Cain and maybe add Herrera; the hit for this season won’t be that great as cain will be a free agent after the season and Herrera is still arb-eligible. In Eaton you’re talking about a 5-6 win player who has already banked about a half-win this season, so the Nats really just need to add a couple wins to keep outpacing the rest of the East – the Phils and Braves and Marlins are awful and the Mets have so many issues right now. I would guess the Nats are all-in and they’ll find a center fielder pretty quickly.

Uhmmmm
Gardner hit two bombs today. Brings gold glove defense, some speed on base paths, decent on base. Throw in Clippard for Nats to use as a set up man or innings middle relief eater.
What do the Nats say and give back?

yep, you’re so right. No gold gloves since then huh? Your farm system has been hit pretty hard, & unless you’re willing to give up another like Fedde or Robles to get another deal consummated, Gardner would be 1 of the better options available. Then again seeing the Nats recent trades, nothing would surprise me.

I agree that Gold Gloves aren’t a strong argument about a players defense, However, as of 3 years ago , 25% of the vote for GG award are advanced defensive metrics.

From 2014-2016, the only full time LFer who are ranked ahead of him defensively are Gordon, Cespedes, and Yelich. And I sincerely doubt those other 3 are on the trading block (Maybe Gordon if Royals go full rebuild)

what about Brett Gardner? If the Nats balk at an asking price of a Cain/Herrera package & due to a system being fairly cleaned out this past winter, Gardner would come on the cheap, I would imagine. His bat has somewhat declined, but he can still glove & has good leadership

if Hicks keeps hitting like this Gardner could be available.
Could throw in Clippard. He’s about as good as Robertson.
I’m sure the Yankees would pay off some of Garnder’s contract and Clippard would only cost a 2 mill or so.

What a tough loss for Eaton and the team! It must be so frustrating to lose one whole year to injury.

As far as Nationals’ problem is concerned, I am not sure trade is the only solution. They could try a platoon of Taylor and Stevenson. Or since Lind and Zimmerman are both hot right now, get both in the lineup somehow. That may mean Turner will need to play OF again. Losing a potential 5-6 WAR player is tough.

I don’t think it is that big of a deal for the Nats. Eaton is a poor defender in center, doesn’t hit a lot of home runs or steal a lot of bases. The internal options should give them 70-80% of what they were getting from Eaton. Not like losing Harper or Murphy.

You cannot judge the quality of the Eaton Tradeoff an ACL injury. Nobody could have expected this at the time of the trade as Eaton does not have a history of injuries. Just a shame this happened to him.

I love how everyone is assuming that Giolitto is the key cog here in this trade for the Sox.. If Lopez pitches like he did in the Spring then he may be the better starter. If so, how does that nullify this being a good deal for the Sox too? Dunning is also tearing his way through A ball right now. So what if Giolitto and Lopez somehow fail, but Dunning gets up to the majors and kills it, does it nullify this trade for the Sox? Eaton is a good leadoff hitter and RF and likely makes the Nats better for the next 4 years, and if they win a WS? Great they make out too, but it is more likely one of the pitchers that they gave up will do well for the Sox. This is not like Mike Trout was traded away, it was Eaton. One pitcher doing well helps the Sox, but does not necessarily make this a lopsided trade for anyone.

The Nats need to be worried about winning this season while they have exceptionally limited competition. The Mets have been ravaged with injuries, severely weakening them, Atlanta is horrible, Miami is mediocre and Philly is too young right now.
Next year they have the Braves, Phillies and the Mets to worry about.
Like I suggested for Pitt, Austin Jackson is a great target. They don’t have much competition, so it would be stupid for them to give up tons to get 3 months of Lorenzo Cain.
Peter Bourjos wouldn’t be a bad piece to put with Goodwin and Rafael Bautista- great glove- walking a ton this season
Either way, Rizzo would be looking at maybe Daniel Johnson if they wanted to do Jackson and Trevor Gott if they wanted to do Bourjos as opposed to cleaning out the farm to get a guy like Cain.
If I were the Nats, I would splurge on a closer to pair with Glover. Kelvin seems like the best choice there. Kid’s a stud- probably the most underrated reliever in the game. Probably would be Stevenson and Voth (an Outfielder and a Starter), but you would be getting a season and a half to let Glover get some more experience before throwing him into the closers role. Also, Herrera seems to be a likely qualifying offer candidate- therefore you would likely get a draft pick or two (based on the new system) out of the deal in the long run.
If you wanted to spend less on a reliever and just stick with a rental, you could try to package Tommy Hunter and Bourjos- kill two birds with one stone, might cost you 2-3 players of either high upside/far away.low floor or High Floor/Low-ish Ceiling- Joe Smith has been exceptionally solid, the Phillies have some decent relief options- I’m thinking any of those options could be a clean 1-for-1 swap for a decent mid-level prospect, thinking like a Nick Banks or Wilmer Difo type guy.

Stevenson and Voth isn’t nearly enough.
If Chapman can get Torres, Warren, McKinney and Crawford for 2 months.
Herrera can get at least Fedde and Soto for a year and change.
Ffs Warren by himself is better than any pitcher the Nats havens a reliever( Kelley is close).

This trade just became lopsided….even if only 1 of the prospects does good for the White Sox…this hurts the Nats but if Zimmerman and Harper continue to rake….it will sting less….they weren’t expecting Zimmerman to put up the numbers he has….so it almost makes up for the loss of Eaton….

Well liked in Chicago? Heh, Ok… This clown was crying about losing their 12 yr old ‘leader’ in the clubhouse two seasons ago. The scuttlebutt out of the Org was that he was irritating other players too.
Good player, but a bit annoying at times.

Injuries are fluky, and it is still too early to see what the Sox have exactly (though Dunning is tearing his way through A ball right now). If they need a closer and Robertson is the best available then you have to seriously weigh the risk Vs the reward, like any other trade.

There was already talk that other clubs felt Rizzo was fleeced, and the Sox got a nice haul for Sale. That’s one reason why the Sox rebuild came to a screeching halt after two big trades in three days. It’s way too soon to tell who “won” these deals – the chisox and bosox could both be winners – but perceptions affect trades. Doesn’t mean a Robertson trade might not be logical at some point, but I don’t see it from the pr angle.

Fleeced? The only guy that fleeced Rizzo was Rizzo. Rick Hahn did not hold a gun to Rizzo and demand that they take Eaton for three pitchers. Also, Hahn did nothing wrong, and clubs are not blacklisting Hahn. Eaton injury was more to do with how he runs to first than anything Rick Hahn has done and was perfectly healthy when he went to the Nats, so how did Rizzo get ‘fleeced’ exactly?

The Sox could not make any more moves because teams did not want to pay what Hahn wanted for the other guys.. at least so far. Hope Nats fans are taking notes: A GM can actually say No to demands of another team.. Novel idea huh?

Who said he held a gun to Rizzo’s head? Who said Hahn did anything wrong or that he had anything to do with Eaton’s injury? Not me. And no one is saying they’re blacklisting Hahn, but they’re not ponying up the kind of deals Hahn got for Eaton and Sale. Also, please look at some of the initial tweets and columns from “baseball experts” and tell me what the consensus was on the Eaton trade from the insiders and the media.

Watching Nats cripple their farm system, made me grind my teeth. It was going to come back and haunt them. Maybe not now, but is 2-3 years they will probably wish they had that Eaton trade back. I am a Pittsburgh fan, so maybe I value too much on prospects. WS made out like a bandit in Eaton and Sale trades. They look pretty good on paper thanks to Nationals and Red Sox.

I agree with Shannon on this….yes it’s too early to tell who wins these trades as it can take years to finally reveal a winner but right now I think the White Sox made out nicely….Sale is a top 3 starter so that package may prove to be even if Sale helps the Red Sox win a WS over the next couple of years but Eaton being injured now really hurts this trade from the Nats standpoint….luckily they are getting steady production from Harper….Turner and Murphy while Zimmerman has a career resurgence which makes up for the loss of Eaton a bit….not that Zimmerman will continue this but with the Mets staff not being healthy and a good start by the Nats….I don’t see anyone in the NL East passing them this year….that said….the Nats are lucky that Zimmerman is hitting like Pujols in his MVP years….lol